WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi ATU), a contract testing, development and manufacturing organization (CTDMO), entered a licensing agreement with Janssen Biotech, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Under this agreement, WuXi ATU will license to Janssen its TESSA technology, a high-performance system that can produce 10 times more adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors than traditional AAV manufacturing systems, according to WuXi. Janssen will also have access to work on WuXi ATU’s proprietary clonal suspension HEK293 cell line. This agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

AAV vectors are commonly used for the delivery of gene therapies to patients due to their ability to transduce numerous cell and tissue types. WuXi ATU’s TESSA technology responds to industry demand for large scale AAV manufacturing by producing higher quality AAV particles more efficiently. WuXi ATU has also successfully scaled up the TESSA technology to 200L; this achieved a 10-fold higher yield and a significantly higher percentage of full AAV capsids, greatly reducing overall AAV production costs compared to traditional plasmid-based AAV production systems.

“We are honored that Janssen selected WuXi ATU’s TESSA technology,” said David Chang, CEO, WuXi Advanced Therapies. “We remain committed to improving the TESSA platform to produce faster and more cost effective AAV products for patients.”